Second BOC a success

In three sessions, international speakers from the three offshore segments oil and gas, wind and deep-sea mining presented new projects and approaches, and gave latest updates on the economical part of their business.
After the keynote speech from John Westwood, Douglas-Westwood, who reviewed prospects for the offshore oil and gas industry and gave the energy business advisors’ forecast both for this sector and the offshore wind industry, Harold W.M. Linssen, Keppel Verolme, gave an insight on the requirements for the transition from a traditional shipyard to an offshore yard. He was followed by Dr Jaap-Harm Westhuis, who presented challenges and opportunities for third-generation FPSOs in Brazil. After that, Bart Hogeweg, IHC Mining Advisory Services, discussed mining challenges in the offshore environment.
In the second session, Bruno Siefken, Upetrom Group, talked about past, current and future projects of GSP Offshore, a member company of Upetrom. The presentation by Roy Rødningen, Aker Solutions, dealt with challenges and constraints of major offshore projects. The last lecture of the first day was given by James Brekke, ABS, who focused on the various factors that need to be considered for a robust marine integrity of mobile offshore drilling units.  
The second day started with an impressive talk by Edward Heerema, president and founder of Allseas Group. He introduced the massive specs of the giant multi-purpose installation and decommissioning vessel “Pieter Schelte”, which will be delivered in the second half of 2014. He was followed by Kaj Lindvig, A2SEA, who gave an overview of installation methods of different kinds of foundations and turbines of offshore wind farms.
The last presentation of the BOC was all about managing risks in offshore wind farm constructions. Colin Morgan, GL Group, presented some of the experiences that have been gained while working on offshore wind farms and outlined strategies to minimise construction delays.